Norbert Krapf
by George J. Dance Norbert Krapf is an American poet and academic. Life Krapf grew up in Jasper, Indiana, a German community.Norbert Krapf, Time Being Books. Web, Sep. 9, 2018. He graduated from Jasper High School. Krapf earned a B.A in English from St. Joseph's College in Rensselaer, Indiana, in 1965. He then attended the University of Notre Dame, where he earned an M.A. in English in 1966, and a Ph.D. in English and American Literature, with a concentration in American poetry, in 1971.Biographical / Historical note, Norbert Krapf papers, River Campus Library, University of Rochester. Web, Sep. 9, 2018. Krapf married Katherine (Trahan), a middle and high school teacher, on June 12, 1970, and the couple later adopted 2 children, Elizabeth and Daniel, from Bogotá, Columbia. He moved from Indiana to metropolitan New York in 1970. From 1970 to 2004 he taught at Long Island University, where he also directed the C.W. Post Poetry Center for 18 years. He has also been a U.S. exchange teacher at West Oxon Technical College in England, and Fulbright professor of American poetry at the Universities of Freiburg and Erlangen-Nuremberg, Germany. In 2004 he retired from teaching, and moved to Indianapolis, Indiana, to write full time. His poetry volumes include the trilogy Somewhere in Southern Indiana: Poems of midwestern origins, Blue-Eyed Grass: Poems of Germany, Bittersweet along the Expressway: Poems of Long Island, and The Country I Come from, as well as Looking for God's Country, and Invisible Presence: A Walk through Indiana in photographs and poems, with Darryl Jones. He is the editor of Finding the Grain, a collection of pioneer German journals and letters from his native Dubois County, and Under Open Sky, a gathering of writings by contemporary American poets on William Cullen Bryant. He is also the translator and editor of Shadows on the Sundial: Selected early poems of Rainer Maria Rilke and Beneath the Cherry Sapling: Legends from Franconia. Abused as a boy by the pastor of his family's Catholic church, Krapf ended his years of silence on the incident at age 70 by writing about it in his 2014 poetry collection, Catholic Boy Blues, followed by his 2016 prose memoir, Shrinking the Monster: Healing the wounds of our abuse.Shrinking the Monster: Healing the wounds of our abuse, Amazon.com. Web, Sep. 9, 2018. Recognition Krapf won the Lucille Medwick Memorial Award from the Poetry Society of America. The Country I Come From was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize in Poetry. St. Joseph’s College awarded him an honorary doctorate. He served as Poet laureate of Indiana, 2008-2010.Norbert Krapf, KrapfPoetry.com. Web, Sep. 9, 2018. Publications Poetry *''Shooting a Squirrel''. Rushden, Northamptonshire, UK: Sceptre Press, 1973. *''The Playfair Book of Hours''. Denver, CO: Ally Press, 1976. *''The Forefather Arrives''. Derry, PA: Rook Press, 1976. *''Song of the Music Stand''. Knotting, UK: Sceptre Press, 1977. *''Sisters''. Binghamton, NY: Bellevue Press, 1978. *''Arriving on Paumonok''. Port Jefferson, NY: Backstreet Editions, 1979. *''A Pioneer Wedding''. Roslyn, NY: Kirby's Corners Press, 1979. *''When the Call Came'' (with Katherine Krapf). Smithtown, NY: privately published, 1980. *''Lines drawn from Dürer''. St. Paul, MN: Ally Press, 1981. *''The Roslyn Forge''. Roselyn Harbor, NY: Stone House Press, 1981. *''Walnut'' (with John DePol). Roslyn Harbor, NY: Stone House Press, 1982. *''Heartwood'' (with John DePol). Roslyn Harbor, NY: Stone House Press, 1983. *''Circus Songs: Poems''. Point Reyes Station, CA: Floating Island, 1984. *''A Dream of Plum Blossoms''. West Lafayette, IN: Sparrow Press, 1985. *''March Songs for an English Half-Moon''. Port Jefferson, NY: Street Press, 1988. *''Somewhere in Southern Indiana: Poems of midwestern origins''. St. Louis, MO: Time Being Books, 1993. *''Blue-Eyed Grass: Poems of Germany''. St. Louis, MO: Time Being Books, 1997. *''Bittersweet along the Expressway: Poems of Long Island''. Hardwick, MA: Waterline Press, 2000. *''The Country I Come from''. Santa Maria, CA: Archer Books, 2002. *''Looking for God's Country: Poems''. St. Louis, MO: Time Being Books, 2005. *''Invisible Presence: A Walk through Indiana in photographs and poems'' (with photos by Darryl Jones). Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press (Quarry Books), 2006. *''Bloodroot: Indiana poems''. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press (Quarry Books), 2008. *''Sweet Sister Moon: Poems''. Cincinnati, OH: WordTech Editions, 2009. *''Songs in Sepia and Black and White'' (with photos by Richard Fields). Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press (Quarry Books), 2012. *''American Dreams: Reveries and revisitations'' (with Andreas Riedel). Norman, OK: Mongrel Empire Press, 2013. *''Catholic Boy Blues: A poet's journal of healing''. Nashville, TN: Greystone Publishing, 2014. Non-fiction *''The Sunday before Thanksgiving: Two prose memoirs''. Chicago: Rain Crow, 1998. *''The Ripest Moments: A southern Indiana childhood''. Indianapolis, IN: Indiana Historical Society Press, 2008. *''Shrinking the Monster: Healing the wounds of our abuse''. Munhall, PA: In Extenso Press, 2016. Translated *Rainer Maria Rilke, Shadows on the Sundial: Selected early poems. Northport, NY: Birnham Wood Graphics, 1990. *''Beneath the Cherry Sapling: Legends from Franconia''. New York: Fordham University Press, 1988. Edited *''Finding the Grain: Pioneer German journals and letters from DuBois County''. Jasper, IN: Herald Printing, for Dubois County Historical Society, 1977; Indianapolis, IN: Max Kade German-American Center, Indiana University-Purdue University at Indianapolis / Indiana German Heritage Society / Dubois County Historical Society, 1996. *''Under Open Sky: Poets on William Cullen Bryant''. New York: Fordham University Press, 1986. Except where noted, bibliographical information courtesy WorldCat.Search results = au:Norbert Krapf, WorldCat, OCLC Online Computer Library Center Inc. Web, Sep. 9, 2018. Audio / video *''Somewhere in Southern Indiana: Poems of midwestern origins'' (cassette). St. Louis, MO: Time Being Books, 1993. *''Imagine: Indiana in music and words'' (CD; with Monica Herzog). Bloomington, IN: Acme Records, 2008. See also *List of U.S. poets References Fonds *Norbert Krapf papers, River Campus Library, University of Rochester Notes External links ;Poems *Norbert Krapf profile, interview, & 5 poems at Connotation Press *Poem Texts Online ;Audio / video *Norbert Krapf at YouTube ;Books *Norbert Krapf at Amazon.com ;About *Norbert Krapf at Time Being Books *Norbert Krapf Official website Category:20th-century poets Category:21st-century poets Category:American poets Category:People from Dubois county, Indiana Category:English-language poets Category:Poets Category:Long Island University faculty Category:American academics